# @thetorontozoo on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DcQ6BxHoGTT
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/69330993-thetorontozoo-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/ea36e4ae42.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-20T13:48:44.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Toronto Zoo (@thetorontozoo) — https://gondola.cc/thetorontozoo

## Caption

The Jefferson salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum) is an endangered species in Canada that depends on healthy forests and seasonal woodland pools to survive. 

Habitat loss and fragmentation are putting increasing pressure on this species but in some isolated populations, there is another unusual challenge: there simply aren’t enough males.

Jefferson salamanders share their habitat with all-female unisexual salamanders that also rely on male Jefferson salamanders for reproduction. At a historically significant population in Mississauga, the first Jefferson salamander population described in Canada, researchers discovered an extraordinary imbalance of approximately one male for every 67 females.

To help address this conservation challenge, your Toronto Zoo is working alongside researchers from the uoftmississauga and the Jefferson Salamander Recovery Team on an innovative pilot head-starting program. 

Led by Drs. Meredith Swartwout and Rosalind Murray, the collaboration is helping give young Jefferson salamanders a stronger start, with the goal of increasing the number of males in the wild and supporting the population’s long-term recovery. 

The pilot is already showing encouraging results. More than 70 head-started larvae have been released, and some have already been observed leaving the breeding pond as newly metamorphosed salamanders. Researchers will continue monitoring the population to understand how these young salamanders contribute to future generations.

If even a few are males, they could help sustain this population for decades to come 🦎
As Guardians of Wild, we’re proud to be saving species and making a meaningful impact both locally and globally. 

Through science, collaboration and hands-on conservation, your Toronto Zoo is helping protect Ontario’s biodiversity, restore threatened wildlife where it lives, and build healthier ecosystems for generations to come. #savingspecies

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## Tags

savingspecies

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